The Ultima series has always had good music; it's
part of why the games have been so popular. A good soundtrack can
really heighten the sense of illusion being created by the game.
Wouldn't it be nice to be able to listen to that music on its own,
separately from the games? If you're fortunate enough to find one
of Origin's soundtracks, you can. Comments in Black Gate and Serpent
Isle notwithstanding, Origin and Electronic Arts have released
three soundtrack CDs in the 1990s. Each of these included music
from various Origin games, including some Ultimas.

There are also some excellent fan reproductions of the game music.
You can find MIDI files for practically every piece of music that
has ever appeared in an Ultima at the Bard's Library web
site.

Origin Soundtrack
Series,Volume 1

Publisher: Electronic Arts UK (?)

Characteristics: Music CD. Includes tracks from Ultima
VI, Savage Empire, and Martian Dreams.

Original List Price: ?

Availability: None.

I've heard various tales about this product. One story has it
that it was put out in the UK; another is that it was put out
privately by someone inside Origin, either as a joke or just a
present to some of the staffers. Either way, it was never sold
commercially in the US. This was probably what prompted Origin to
put a gag in the end of the Black Gate
credits, saying "Soundtrack available from Origin!". Unfortunately
for them, the gag backfired, and they had so many requests from
people thinking it was a real product that in the next game,
Serpent Isle, they had to put in a
retraction: "Soundtrack NOT available - so DON'T ASK!" Guess it
just goes to show, be careful what you ask for! Fortunately for the
fans, the interest was enough to spur Origin to put out a REAL
soundtrack of those games, which is listed below.

Presumably this product was spurred by the same flood of
messages that caused Origin to put their retraction in the Serpent
Isle credits, as mentioned above. This product can still be bought
from Electronic Arts.

This item was not sold individually, but was part of the
promotional package included with the Wing Commander 3 Deluxe
Edition, which can still be bought from Electronic Arts. It has music from Wing
Commander 3, Pagan, and a bunch of
other games. It even has some bonus tracks of music that wasn't
included in any released games.